LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chap.X-- Copyright No. 

Shelf j&7— 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



SONGS OF TWO 



SONGS OF TWO 
BV J 

ARTHUR SHERBURNE HARDY 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

MDCCCC 



Copyright, 1900 , by Charles Scribners Sons 



731 



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j NOV 9 /goo 

^ Copyright entry 

■ sin-^D copy. 

V* '*mnd to 
I <**&*. 4 OMSION, 

L?K 11 1900 






SONGS OF TWO 



SONGS OF TWO 



I 



Last night I dreamed this dream : That I was dead 
And as I slept, forgot of man and God, 
That other dreamless sleep of rest, 
I heard a footstep on the sod, 
As of one passing overhead, — 

And lo, thou, Dear, didst touch me on the breast, 
Saying: "What shall I write against thy name 

That men should see?" 
Then quick the answer came, 
"I was beloved of thee." 



[i] 



SONGS OF TWO 



II 



Dear Giver of Thyself 1 when at thy side 

I see the path beyond divide, 

Where we must walk alone a little space, 

I say: "Now am I strong indeed 

To wait with only Memory awhile, 

Content, until I see thy face, — " 

Yet turn, as one in sorest need, 

To ask once more thy giving grace. 

So, at the last 
Of all our partings, when the night 
Has hidden from my failing sight 
The comfort of thy smile, 

My hand shall seek thine own to hold it fast; 

Nor wilt thou think for this the heart ingrate, 
Less glad for all its past, 
Less strong to bear the utmost of its fate. 



[2] 



SONGS OF TWO 



III 



As once through forest shade I went, 

I heard a flower call, and bent — 

Then strove to go. Should Love not spare? 

"Nay, Dearest, this is Love's sweet share 

Of selfishness. For which is best, 

To die alone or on thy breast? 

If thou hast heard my call, 

Take fearlessly, thou art my guest, — 

To give is all." 
Hush! O Love, thou casuist! 



[3] 



SONGS OF TWO 



IV 



Ask me not why, — I only know. 
It were thy loss if I could show 
Thee cause as for a lesser thing. 
Remember how we searched the spring, 
But found no source, — so clear the sky 
Within its earth-bound depths did lie. 
Give to thy joy its wings, 

And to thy heart its song, nor try 
With questionings 

The throbbing throat that sings. 



[4] 



SONGS OF TWO 



For in thy clear and steadfast eyes 
Thine own self-wonder deepest lies, 
Nor any words that lips can teach 
Are sweeter than their wonder-speech. 
And when thou givest them to me, 
Through dawns of tenderness I see, — 
As in the water-sky, — 

The sun of certainty appear. 
So, ask me why, 

For then thou knowest, Dear. 



[5] 



SONGS OF TWO 



VI 



To give is more than to receive, men say. 
But thou hast made them one ! What if, some 
day, 
Men bade me render back the gifts I cannot pay,- 
Since all were undeserved! should I obey? 
Lo, all these years of giving, when we try 
To own our thanks, we hear the giver cry : 
"Nay, it was thou who gavest, Dear, not I." 
If Wisdom smile, let Wisdom go ! 
All things above 
This is the truest: that we know because we love, 
Not love because we know. 



[6] 



SONGS OF TWO 



VII 



Let it not grieve thee, Dear, that Love is sad, 
Who, changeless, loveth so the things that 
change, — 
The morning in thine eyes, the dusk within thy hair. 
Were it not strange 
If he were glad 
Who cannot keep thy heart from care, 
Or shelter from the whip of pain 
The bosom where his head hath lain? 
Poor sentinel, that may not guard 
The door that love itself unbarred! 
Who in the sweetness 
Of his service knows its incompleteness, 
And while he sings 
Of life eternal, feels the coldness of Death's wings. 



[7] 



SONGS OF TWO 



VIII 

Stoop with me, Dearest, to the grass 

One little moment ere we pass 

From out these parched and thirsty lands. 

See ! all these tiny blades are hands 

Stretched supplicating to the sky. 

And listen, Dearest, patiently, — 

Dost thou not hear them move ? 

The myriad roots that search, and cry 

As hearts do, Love, 
"Feed us, or let us die!" 



[8] 



SONGS OF TWO 



IX 



Beloved, when far up the mountain side 

We found, almost at eventide, 

Our spring, how we did fear 
Lest it should dare the trackless wood 

And disappear! 
And lost all heart when on the crest we stood 

And saw it spent in mist below! 

Yet ever surer was its flow, 

And, ever gathering to its own 

New springs of which we had not known, 
To fairer meadows 
Swept exultant from the woodland shadows; 
And when at last upon the baffling plain 
We thought it scattered like a ravelled skein, — 

Lo, tranquil, free, 
Its longed-for home, the wide unfathomable sea ! 



[9] 



SONGS OF TWO 



X 



Thy names are like sweet flowers that grow 
Within a garden where I go, 
Sometimes at dawn, to see each one 
Lift its head proudly in the sun; 

Sometimes at night, 
When only by the fragrant air 

I know them there. 
And none are grieved or think I slight 
Their worth, if closest to my breast 
This one I take which holds within its own 
Each single fragrance of the rest,— 

My friend, my friend! 
And as I loved it first alone, 
So shall I love it to the end, 
For none were half so dear were it not best. 



[10] 



SONGS OF TWO 



XI 



My every purpose fashioned by some thought of 
thee. 
Though as a feather's weight that shapes the arrow's 
flight it be; 
No single joy complete in which thou hast no 
fee, 
Though thy share be the star and mine its shadow in 
the sea; 
Thy very pulse my pulse, thy every prayer my 
prayer, 
Thy love my blue o'erreaching sky that bounds me 
everywhere, — 
Yet free, Beloved, free! for this encircling air 
I cannot leave behind, doth but love's boundlessness 
declare. 



["] 



SONGS OF TWO 



XII 



Last night the angel of remembrance brought 

Me while I slept — think, Dear! of all his store 

Just that one memory I thought 

Banished forever from our door! — 

Thy sob of pain when once I hurt thee sore. 

Then in my dream I suddenly was ware 

Of God above me saying : " Reach 

Thy hand to Me in prayer, 
And I will give thee pardon yet." 

Thou? Nay, she hath forgiven, teach 
Her to forget. 



[12] 



SONGS OF TWO 



XIII 

Love me not, Dearest, fof the smile, 

The tender greeting, or the wile 

By which, unconscious of its road, 

My soul seeks thine in its abode; 

Nor say "I love thee for thine eyes, — " 

For when Death shuts them, where thy skies? 

But love me for my love, 
Then am I safe from all surprise, 

And thou above 
The loss of all that dies. 



[13] 



SONGS OF TWO 



XIV 



Dear hands, forgiving hands, 
There is no speech so sure as thine. 

Lips falter with so much 
To tell, eyes fill with thoughts I scarce divine, — 
But thy least touch 
Soul understands. 
Dear giving, taking hands, 
There are no gifts so free as thine. 
One last gem from the heart of the mine, 
One last cup from the veins of the vine, 
From the rose to the wind one last sweet breath, 
Then poverty, and death! 
But thy dear palms 
Are richest empty, asking alms. 



[14] 



SONGS OF TWO 



XV 



A little moment at the end 
Of day, left over in the candle-light 
On the shore of dreams, on the edge of sleep, 
Too small to throw away, 
Too poor to keep! 
But it holds two words for thee, dear Friend, - 

Good-night, Good-night ! 
And so this little remnant of the day, 

Left over in the candle-light 
On the shore of dreams, on the edge of sleep, 
Becomes too great to throw away, 
Too dear to keep! 



[15] 



SONGS OF TWO 



XVI 

Beloved, when I read some fine conceit, 
Wherein are wrought as in a glass 
The features love hath made so sweet, 
I marvel at so bold an art; 
Seeing thou art too dear to praise 
Upon the highway where men pass. 

For when I seek 

To tell the ways \ 
God's hand of tenderness 
Hath touched thine earthly part, 

Again I hear 
Thy first own cry of happiness, 
And, sweetest of God's sounds, the dear 
Remonstrance of thy giving heart,— 

And cannot speak! 



[16] 



SONGS OF TWO 



XVII 



Across the plain of Time 
I saw them marching all night long, — 

The endless throng 
Of all who ever dared to fight with wrong. 
All the blood of their hearts, the prime 
And crown of their fleeting years, 
All the toil of their hands, the tears 
Of their eyes, the thought of their brain, 
For a word from the lips of Truth, 
For a glimpse of the scroll of Fate, 

Ere love and youth 

Were spent in vain, 
And even truth too late! 
Oh, when the Silence speaks, and the scroll 
Unrolls to the eye of the soul, 
What will it be that shall pay the cost 
Of the pain gone waste and the labor lost! 
And then, Dear, waking, I saw you — 

And knew. 



[17] 



SONGS OF TWO 



XVIII 

We thought when Love at last should come, 
The rose would lose its thorn, 
And every lip but Joy's be dumb 
When Love, sweet Love, was born; 
That never tears should start to rise, 
No night o'ertake our morn, 
Nor any guest of grief surprise, 
When Love, sweet Love, was born. 

And when he came, O Heart of mine! 

And stood within our door, 

No joy our dreaming could divine 

Was missing from his store. 

The thorns shall wound our hearts again, 

But not the fear of yore, 

For all the guests of grief and pain 

Shall serve him evermore. 



[18] 



SONGS OF TWO 



XIX 



1 

Dost thou remember, Dear, the day 

We met in those bare woods of May ? 

Each bud a secret unconfessed, 

Each sound a promise, in each nest 

Young wings a-tremble for the air, — 

How we joined hands? — not knowing where 

The springs that touch set free 
Should find their sea. 
Speechless — so sure we were to share 

The unknown good to be. 



[19] 



SONGS OF TWO 



XX 



2 
The woods are bare again. There are 
No secrets now, the bud's a scar; 
No promises, — this is the end! 
Ah, Dearest, I have seen thee bend 
Above thy flowers as one who knew 
The dying wood should bloom anew. 

Come, let us sleep. Perchance 
God's countenance, 
Like thine above thy flowers, smiles through 

The night upon us two. 



[20] 



VERSES 



VERSES 



MY FRIEND 

I have a friend who came, — I know not how, 
Nor he. Among the crowd, apart, 
I feel the pressure of his hand, and hear 
In very truth the beating of his heart. 

My soul had shut the door of her abode, 
So poor it seemed for any guest 
To tarry there a night, — until he came, 
Asking, not entertainment, only rest. 

Our hands were empty, — his and mine alike, 
He says, — until they joined. I see 
The gifts he brought; but where were mine 
That he should say "I too have need of thee?" 

Without the threshold of his heart I wait 
Abashed, afraid to enter where 
So radiant a company do meet, — 
Yet enter boldly, knowing I am there. 



[23] 



VERSES 



Whether his hand shall press my latch to-night, 
To-morrow, matters not. He came 
Unsummoned, he will come again; and I, 
Though dead, shall answer to my name. 

And yet, dear friend, in whom I rest content, 
Speak to me now — lest when we meet 
Where tears and hunger have no grace, 
A little word of friendship be less sweet. 



[24] 



VERSES 



ON NE BADINE PAS AVEC LA MORT 

1 

The dew was full of sun that morn 

(Oh I heard the doves in the hayricks coo!) 

As he crossed the meadows beyond the corn, 

Watching his falcon in the blue. 

How could he hear my song so far, — 

The song of the blood where the pulses are ! 

Straight through the fields he came to me, 

(Oh I saw his soul as I saw the dew!) 

But I hid my joy that he might not see, 

I hid it deep within my breast, 

As the starling hides in the maize her nest. 



[25] 



VERSES 



2 
Back through the corn he turned again, 
(Oh little he cared where his falcon flew ! ') 
And my heart lay still in the hand of pain, 
As in winter's hand the rivers do. 
How could he hear its secret cry, — 
The cry of the dove when the summers die I 
Thrice in the maize he turned to me, 
(Oh I saw his soul as I saw the dew! J 
But I hid my pain that he might not see,— 
I hid it deep as the grave is made, 
Where the heart that can ache no more is laid. 



[26] 



VERSES 



3 

Last night, where grows the river grass, 

(Oh the stream was dark though the moon was new!) 

I saw white Death with my lover pass, 

Side by side as the troopers do. 

" Give me," said Death, "thy purse well-filled, 

And thy mantle-clasp which the moonbeams gild; 

Save the heart which beats for thy dear sake," 

(Oh I saw my heart as I saw the dew!) 

" All life hath given is Death's to take." 

Dear God! how can I love thy day 

If thou takest the heart that loves away ! 



[27] 



VERSES 



ITER SUPREMUM 



Oh, what a night for a soul to go! 
The wind a hawk, and the fields in snow; 
No screening cover of leaves in the wood, 
Nor a star abroad the way to show. 

Do they part in peace, soul with its clay? 
Tenant and landlord, what do they say? 
Was it sigh of sorrow or of release 
I heard just now as the face turned gray? 

What if, aghast on the shoreless main 

Of Eternity, it sought again 

The shelter and rest of the Isle of Time, 

And knocked at the door of its house of pain! 

On the tavern hearth the embers glow, 

The laugh is deep and the flagons low; 

But without, the wind and the trackless sky, 

And night at the gates where a soul would go! 



[28] 



VERSES 



ON THE FLY-LEAF OF THE RUBAIYAT 

Deem not this book a creed, 'tis but the cry 
Of one who fears not death, yet would not die ; 
Who at the table feigns with sorry jest 
To love the wine the Master's hand has pressed, 
The while he loves the absent Master best, — 
The bitter cry of Love for love's reply! 



[29] 



VERSES 



IN AN ALBUM 

Like the south-flying swallow the summer has flown, 
Like a fast-falling star, from unknown to unknown 
Life flashes and falters and fails from our sight, — 
Good-night, friends, good-night. 

Like home-coming swallows that seek the old eaves, 
Like the buds that wait patient beneath the dead 

leaves, 
Love shall sleep in our hearts till our hands meet 

again, — 

Till then, friends, till then! 



[30] 



VERSES 

WITH APRIL ARBUTUS, TO A FRIEND 

Fairer than we the woods of May, 

Yet sweeter blossoms do not grow 

Than these we send you from our snow. 

Cramped are their stems by winter s cold, 

And stained their leaves with last year's mould; 

For these are flowers which fought their way 

Through ice and cold to sun and air, 

With all a soul might do and dare, — 

Hope, that outlives a world's decay, 

Enduring faith that will not die, 

And love that gives, not knowing why. 

Therefore we send them unto you; 

And if they are not all your due, 

Once they have looked into your face 

Your graciousness will give them place. 

You know they were not born to bloom 

Like roses in a crowded room; 

For though courageous they are shy, 

Loving but one sweet hand and eye. 

Ah, should you take them to the rest, 

The warmth, the shelter of your breast, 

Since on the bleak 
And frozen bosom of our snows 
They dared to smile, on yours who knows 
But that they might not dare to speak ! 
[31] 



VERSES 



IMMORTALITY 

My window is the open sky, 
The flower in farthest wood is mine; 
I am the heir to all gone by, 
The eldest son of all the line. 

And when the robbers Time and Death 
Athwart my path conspiring stand, 
I cheat them with a clod, a breath, 
And pass the sword from hand to hand! 



[32] 



VERSES 



J. E. B. 



Not all the pageant of the setting sun 

Should yield the tired eyes of man delight, 
No sweet beguiling power had stars at night 
To soothe his fainting heart when day is done, 

Nor any secret voice of benison 

Might nature own, were not each sound and sight 
The sign and symbol of the infinite, 
The prophecy of things not yet begun. 

So had these lips, so early sealed with sleep, 

No fruitful word, this life no power to move 
Our deeper reverence, did we not see 

How more than all he said, he was, — how, deep 
Below this broken life, he ever wove 
The finer substance of a life to be. 



[33] 



LuFC. 



VERSES 



BY A GRAVE 

Oft have I stood within the carven door 

Of some cathedral at the close of the day, 
And seen its softened splendors fade away 
From lucent pane and tessellated floor, 

As if a parting guest who comes no more, — 
Till over all silence and blackness lay. 
Then rose sweet murmurings of them that 

pray, 
And shone the altar lamps unseen before, 

So, Dear, as here I stand with thee alone, 

The voices of the world sound faint and far, 
The glare and glory of the noon grow dim, 

And in the stillness, what I had not known, 
I know, — a light, pure shining as a star, 
A song, uprising like a holy hymn. 



[34] 



VERSES 



DUALITY 



Within me are two souls that pity each 
The other for the ends they seek, yet smile 
Forgiveness, as two friends that love the while 
The folly against which each feigns to preach. 

And while one barters in the market-place, 
Or drains the cup before the tavern fire, 
The other, winged with a divine desire, 
Searches the solitary wastes of space. 

And if o'ercome with pleasure this one sleeps, 

The other steals away to lay its ear 

Upon some lip just cold, perchance to hear 

Those wondrous secrets which it knows — and keeps! 



[35] 



VERSES 



LULLABY 



O Mary, Mother, if the day we trod 
In converse sweet the lily-fields of God, 
From earth afar arose a cry of pain, 
Would we not weep again? 
(Sings) Hush, hush, O baby mine, 

Mothers twain are surely thine, 
One of earth and One divine. 

O Mary, Mother, if the day the air 
Was sweet with songs celestial, came a prayer 
From earth afar and mingled with the strain, 
Would we not pray again? 
(Sings) Sleep, sleep, my baby dear, 

Mothers twain are surely near, 
One to pray and One to hear. 

O Mary, Mother, if, as yesternight 
A bird sought shelter at my casement light, 
A wounded soul should flutter to thy breast, 
Wouldst thou refuse it rest? 
(Sings) Sleep, darling, peacefully, 

Mary, Mother, comforts me; 
Christ, her son, hath died for thee. 
[36] 



D. B. Updike 

The Merrymount Press 

Boston 



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